# Inaccuracies that bother you most and least **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2022, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050 "2022-06-28T16:04:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/41 "2022-06-28T23:17:35Z")
[In fact, Jethro is gonna whup Opie for doing just that in Cinderella Man](https://outsider.com/entertainment/beverly-hillbillies-star-max-baer-jr-hit-ron-howard-saw-him-this-reason/amp/) My nitpick: seals and sea lions are two different species. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/42 "2022-06-28T23:21:33Z")
That one never bothered me (and I can’t figure out why people are bothered by it), because it’s a _fictional space gun._ He never says gunpowder doesn’t work in space, just that the gun needs oxygen. Whose to say that there isn’t some special property of this _fictional space gun_ that needs oxygen? ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/43 "2022-06-28T23:24:27Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > However, I do get annoyed when they turn a real person into a villain when they weren’t, just to put a roadblock to the main character. That’s just lazy storytelling. Not necessarily a real individual person, but Clint Eastwood and the writers of _Sully_ created a villain out of whole cloth with how the NTSB was depicted. The movie shows the agency hell-bent on taking Capt. Sullenberger’s license away, claiming their simulations show any competent pilot could have gotten Flight 1549 back to an airport. The NTSB character in the movie practically twirls his mustache in glee at calling Sully out as a bad pilot. None of that ever happened, Sullenberger’s actions in ditching in the Hudson were universally hailed as heroic, and the NTSB was never after his license. It was all cooked up for added drama for a movie that had a gripping, exciting real-life story to tell! (I do admit maybe that stretching the “Miracle on the Hudson” into a full-length film might have been challenging, particularly as the movie they made - even with the unnecessary evil-NTSB plotline - still ended up showing the aircraft’s ditching three separate times to pad out the run time.) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/44 "2022-06-28T23:27:15Z")
One that I am always aware of, and saw again only days ago, was pointed out to me by a convicted burglar that I had a drink with at a pub many years ago. So, thanks to him, whenever I see someone searching through drawers in a movie or on TV, I am annoyed that they don’t do it properly. Apparently your real thieves always start at the bottom and work their way up so that you don’t have to close the last drawer that you looked in. It seems time is of the essence in that business. Sometimes you even see the thief start searching in the top drawer and in a later shot all the drawers are open. How would that work? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/45 "2022-06-28T23:37:14Z")
That’s another example of what I just mentioned, then: Now that you mention it, it DOES make sense to start with the bottom drawer, and a thief who starts at the top is screwing up. So? Maybe the thief is screwing up. Heck, maybe he learned how to search a dresser by watching those movie scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/46 "2022-06-28T23:39:24Z")
Air traffic controllers chortle with derisive glee over the events in _Die Hard II_. Let’s review: - If aircraft lose radio contact with an ATC facility, they try other frequencies or even call other ATC facilities to keep contact with the ground. - Should there be a valid reason to not have radio contact (for example, if the radio in the aircraft failed), pilots don’t just circle in the sky until they run out of fuel and crash. There are procedures where, after a set time, they’ll try an approach to the runway - or, if weather conditions don’t allow, they’ll divert to their alternate airport. FAA rules require aircraft to have adequate fuel supplies for all that to happen. - At the tower I worked at, we had small portable radio units for us to use in an emergency if we had to evacuate the tower. Not a lot of range, but you’d easily be able to reach aircraft holding overhead. No need to try to convert a NAVAID in a newly built section of the terminal as we saw in the movie. - If Dulles goes down, there’s still Reagan National and Baltimore International in the same general area. Richmond, Virginia, and Wilmington, Delaware, aren’t that far - even Philadelphia is pretty close. Airports like Harrisburg or Charlottesville could probably handle a lot of those planes in a pinch. Bottom line, they’d never just fly around and around in circles until they ran out of fuel. - When Fred Thompson makes his “stack em, pack em and rack em” speech to the controllers, they all just stop what they’re doing and focus intently on him. Controllers can’t do that - you can’t take your focus away from your radar screen to listen to your manager make a ludicrous long-winded speech about nonexistent ATC procedures. Anyway - these errors probably don’t make a big difference to the casual viewer, but since the plot doesn’t exist without this bizarro world of air traffic control, those of us who worked in the field just ruefully shook our heads and explained to everyone who’d listen, “It really doesn’t work like that.” ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/47 "2022-06-28T23:39:29Z")
But what if it’s an important plot point that this burglar is especially good? If he’s just some random thief we’ll never see again, put in there to give the victim some obstacle to overcome, I wouldn’t care either. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/48 "2022-06-28T23:50:54Z")
I never had an issue with this at all. As I recall, Jayne said that Vera needed to be in an atmosphere to fire. I always assumed that the auto-loader or trigger mechanism used air pressure to cycle, not that the ammunition needed air to burn. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/49 "2022-06-28T23:53:55Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Second: a character was going to Queens College in Queens, NY, just a few miles from where I grew up. It is part of the City University of New York. The author thought that the place had dorms, and worse, a football team. Not even close. When was the book written/set? Still no football team but Queens ( and some other CUNY campuses) now have housing. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.E](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.e/32/8932_2.png) [@Mr.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.E)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/50 "2022-06-29T00:01:22Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > So a no-brainer popcorn comedy (which I greatly enjoyed, and do own on DVD) manages better accuracy than stuff like “Hunt for Red October”? > [@DrDeth](#): > > Many experts and submariners claim that _Das Boot_ is very realistic. OTOH, I love _Down Periscope._ To elaborate, nobody is ever going to get the technology or terminology right because it’s constantly changing and virtually impenetrable to anyone who has never worked on a submarine. But the FEELING of being on a submarine, trapped with a bunch of weirdos you’d probably never associate with if you had the choice, but loving them all the same and gladly putting your life in their safe hands? An environment that is either complete hijinks or ironclad professionalism? That’s submarines to me. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/51 "2022-06-29T00:17:38Z")
Oooh, I like this: getting the “feel” right, even if the details are wrong. Maybe that’s another reason I vibe with L&O/SVU: I can relate to the long hours, stress, and messy intersection of law and morality that makes some losses feel better than some victories. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/52 "2022-06-29T03:08:24Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > There are letters in the archives from Napoleon to Josephine informing her that he’d be back in a few days so she should please _refrain_ from bathing. The British quiz show QI claimed that it’s not true and that the earliest documented account of the story is from 1981. But this [historian interviewed in The Evening Standard](https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/historian-obsessed-with-napoleon-spills-the-beans-on-bonaparte-s-sex-life-and-reveals-the-truth-about-not-tonight-josephine-10309683.html) says it is true. Whom to believe? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/53 "2022-06-29T03:27:54Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > ne from a play from 25 years ago still pisses me off. Me too. It took place during World War 2 and they had 50 star flags for their set design. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/54 "2022-06-29T04:12:11Z")
The James Garner vehicle _ **Nichols** _ was set in 1914, but the local saloon (owned by Margot Kidder) was decorated with 50 star flags. Col Pitts (Larry Hagman) also had a 50 star flag in his 1944 office in _ **The Eagle Has Landed** _. Both times I was jarred back into the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/55 "2022-06-29T05:57:58Z")
For me, as someone in medicine, the inaccuracies that bother me are with codes and how they are portrayed. Chest compressions look more like the performer is trying to wake up the patient rather than the deep compressions needed to literally squeeze the heart through the chest wall; everyone gets shocked at least two times no matter what the rhythm is; and if the person recovers they are almost always back to normal like they didn’t just die and miraculously come back. Oh and it takes all of a minute or two before it’s decided one way or the other. It bothers me because I think it gives a very misleading idea of how much a Hail Mary it is, and it makes code discussions that much harder. On the other hand I don’t really mind the ridiculous presentations of fairly run of the mill diseases or all the zebra illnesses that seem to always occur at the same hospital because it’s never really about the actual diagnosis anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/56 "2022-06-29T11:18:31Z")
> [@Uncle\_Jocko](#): > > Anyway - these errors probably don’t make a big difference to the casual viewer, but since the plot doesn’t exist without this bizarro world of air traffic control, those of us who worked in the field just ruefully shook our heads and explained to everyone who’d listen, “It really doesn’t work like that.” Superhero movies get this wrong, too - they treat their planes (or themselves, if their superpowers include flight) like cars; just jump on and go. I get that Captain America requesting takeoff clearance or a vector to a waypoint doesn’t add anything to the story, but every time Ironman goes zipping around New York in his suit, I imagine some ATC saying, “Mr. Stark, I’ve got a number for you to call…” ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/57 "2022-06-29T11:47:10Z")
Fresh from watching the final season of The Last Kingdom, the film conventions of cultures that get around by horse made me sigh anew. Firstly, you cannot gallop from place to place on a horse. Period. A fairly fit horse can only gallop full out for a few minutes, then they are gasping for breath, just like a person. Long distances would always be traversed primarily at a walk or, if in quite a hurry, at a steady trot. Unromantic but a fact. Nor would you ever gallop a horse out of or into a crowded place, unless you are hoping to have a terrible accident. In any case upon starting a trip you would always warm up the horse slowly, you’d never just jump on and gallop away. Then there is the neighing. Horses don’t just neigh because they want to let the audience know that they are approaching. They only neigh when calling out to other horses who are at a distance (sometimes these horses are only wishful thinking, as when a lonely horse feels abandoned). Neighing is fairly rare. They never neigh when moving fast, anyway. They stop, to call out with a full breath. Also it is always the same neigh, like the Wilhelm Scream. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/58 "2022-06-29T11:54:18Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Not pebbles, no, but it’s possible to get a good clean wipe with a smooth stone. I speak from personal experience. This all depends upon your definition of the size of “pebbles”. I wasn’t talking about 1/2" sized rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/59 "2022-06-29T12:03:24Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > but every time Ironman goes zipping around New York in his suit, I imagine some ATC saying, “Mr. Stark, I’ve got a number for you to call…” I’ll give the first Iron Man movie a bit of credit, though - before his initial test flight in the suit he does tell JARVIS to check with air traffic control. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050/60 "2022-06-29T12:33:04Z")
Two things pull me right out of a story. First is when military uniforms, especially Navy women, are wrong. It may not affect the story in the least, but it still irritates me that something so easily checked is ignored. The other is when “The Government” is portrayed as a monolithic, hive-mind, thoroughly evil entity where everyone is in on the conspiracy. I don’t mean some futuristic storyline, but supposedly present-day dramas. Cheap, convenient plot device but _soooooooo_ not even close. I worked for DoD for 37 years (uniformed and civilian) and for the most part, it’s not much different from society at large, since all the employees come from society at large. Even in highly classified jobs (which I held at one point) you didn’t find all the employees in lockstep with, well, anything. You had people trying to do their jobs the best they could (for the most part.) Yeah, I know, dramatic license and all that, but these things will still get me yelling at the screen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inaccuracies-that-bother-you-most-and-least/967050.md?page=4)